NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola Wolf Pack men's basketball team nearly pulled off the comeback, but the Xavier Gold Rush held on for the 69-67 win in The Den Monday night. Loyola is back in action when it hosts Tennessee Southern for a Southern States Athletic Conference contest at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
Leonard Jackson and Julian Baldwin gave Loyola an early lead, and Cameron Williams put an early exclamation point to the game with a throw-down dunk, 8-6. Neither team could gain a lead larger than four, as a Jaylen Peters and-1 opportunity put Loyola in the lead, 14-10, with 12-plus minutes until the break. After Xavier regained the lead with six straight points, Jackson banked one off the glass from 3 to flip the lead in Loyola's favor again, 17-16, near the halfway point of the first half.
From there, the game featured five more lead changes to bring the first-half total to eight. The rest of the first half was highlighted by another 3 from Jackson, another slam by Williams, and an alley-oop from Kameron Johnson to Julian Baldwin that sent The Den into a frenzy. The Gold Rush finished the first half strong, though, taking a 37-34 lead at the half.
Xavier scored the first eight points of the second half to extend its advantage to 11 quickly, but Williams ended that run with a baseline jumper, 45-36. Milan Mejia made two 3s over the next few minutes, and Reece Seicshnaydre added one, too, to help Loyola stay within six, 53-47, at the 12-minute mark. Jackson got the deficit to five, 55-50, a couple of minutes later, and Johnson nailed a 3-pointer to bring the XULA lead down to four, 57-53, with nine minutes left in the game.
The Gold Rush extended their lead back out to double digits, 68-55, with five minutes to play, however, Loyola went on a 10-0 run during the next four minutes of game time to get back to within one possession. Kosta Bjelicic made it a 12-0 run with 5 seconds left, but that only made the score 68-67 in Xavier's favor. The visitors made a free throw and got the ball back on a Loyola turnover to seal the win.
Pack Facts
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Leonard Jackson had his best scoring game of the season with 15 points after shooting 5-of-7 from the field, 2-of-4 on threes.
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Cameron Williams had his highest scoring game as a member of the Pack, finishing with 13 points and three rebounds on 6-of-9 shooting.
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Kosta Bjelicic was the third Wolf Pack player in double figures, putting up 11 points and four boards.
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Milan Mejia hit two threes en route to nine points, plus five rebounds and four assists. He's now fifth in career three-pointers at Loyola with 203.
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